A typical retail sales transaction occurs at a fixed point of sale (“POS”) station manned by a store sales associate. The store sales associate assists a customer with the checkout process by receiving payment for an item. If the item is associated with an EAS element, such as an acousto-magnetic (“A-M”) tag, the store sales associate deactivates the EAS element after the customer pays for the item. During the transaction, the store sales associate has the opportunity to visually inspect the item and notice whether the item has a price tag with a suspiciously low price.
An item may have a price tag with an unusual low price because the customer has fraudulently switched price tags by replacing the original price tag with a low price tag corresponding to a less expensive item. By noticing the inconsistent price tag, the store sales associate has the opportunity to prevent the fraud and determine the correct price of the item.
While traditional POS stations are advantageous in that they allow a store sales associate to supervise the checkout transaction, in order to control costs, many retailers have implemented self-checkout POS stations that allow a customer to self-checkout. A self-checkout station is not supervised by a store sales associate. In a self-checkout transaction, the customer independently rings up the sale of an item. If the item is associated with an EAS element, a store sales associate deactivates the EAS element attached to the item.
Allowing the customer to self-checkout may be risky. For instance, a customer may wish to buy an expensive item but may not want to pay the full price. The customer may switch the price tag on the expensive item with a much less expensive price tag. The customer may then use a self-checkout POS station to pay. After payment is completed, a store sales associate may use an EAS element deactivator tool to deactivate the EAS element associated with the item. Once the EAS element is deactivated, the customer leaves the store without having paid the full price for the item.
Similarly, if the retail store does not offer a self-checkout POS station, the customer may use a traditional POS station to purchase the item. The store sales associate supervising the transaction at the traditional POS station could be in collusion with the customer and the switched price tag will be intentionally overlooked by the store sales associate, i.e., sweethearting. The store sales associate deactivates the EAS element and the customer leaves the store without having paid the full price for the item.